Listen to the Band !
by Dark and Wild
Summary: Twilight goes to band camp, obviously. Bella goes to Anderson, Indiana to become a part of the Pride of the Irish Band and meets Alice, Edward, Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper. Merry Christmas, Pride of the Irish!
1. Chapter 1

**Listen to the Band !**

This is a Twilight FanFic done by yours truly, and it was made in honor to my dear, dear friends in the marching band at my own school (AKA, I'm writing it for them, but all of you other readers can read it to. In fact, that would make my day). If you haven't already gathered by the title and my previous comment, this is a story about marching band. Marching band camp, to be precise, considering as it's no fun when we're actually at school. Anyways, this is to all of those Pride of the Irish folks out there, and here is the summary:

An entire month at band camp – what could be more exciting? Music, marching, instruments… oh, and did I mention the wild parties the seniors throw every night? Bella Swan is a junior in high school, and is just starting out with the Pride of the Irish Marching Band because of a transfer she made. There she meets Alice, Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, and of course that illusive Edward Cullen that seems to be just starting out too. And for the heck of it, Carlisle and Esme are chaperones. What do you get? An awesome crowd of high school kids and a great blast! Rated T for mild kissing, canon pairings, and OOCish because I suck at writing Stephenie Meyer's characters and there are a whole bunch of characters based off of my own dear friends in there. **Disclaimer: **I don't own Twilight… as a creator. I bought it, yes, but I didn't make it. If I did, I wouldn't be here. XD All told from Bella's point of view.

Oh, and Merry Christmas to all of my friends in the band! This is for you guys. =]

Chapter 1: Arrival

Towing two large suitcases had never particularly been my love, especially up a long staircase that led up to a room that I didn't own and that another roommate was probably inhabiting already. I had never been quite so used to being in a camp with new people before, considering as I had done my past two years of marching band with people like Angela, Mike, Jessica, and Jacob. Now, I was at a completely new school with completely new people.

Not the greatest decision of my life.

When I had made the decision to come here with my father Charlie, I had wanted it to be because I wanted to spend some time with him. Now, if I looked back on it, I was just trying to escape the life I had left behind in Phoenix.

But was Anderson, Indiana much better? I wasn't so sure.

Well, my decision was practically made for me when I tripped over a step and let fly one of my suitcases. It went tumbling down a flight, and banged to a stop against one of the walls. I groaned and stumbled to my feet – this clumsiness of mine was getting to be rather irritating.

"Whose is this?" someone called from below. I glanced over my shoulder to see that a younger blonde girl was staring at it curiously.

I flushed. "It's mine," I answered. "I'm really sorry."

The girl's emerald green eyes met with my own, and she smiled. "Oh, alright. I'll help you." She bent down to wrap her hand around the handle and began lifting it up towards me, like it was some kind of mechanical reaction. I smiled gratefully.

"Really, you don't have to do that," I assured her. "I could go get it myself."

The girl smiled graciously. "Don't worry about it. It's the least we can do for a new member, even if you are a junior," she replied simply. She heaved the suitcase up to be level with me and the other one I had managed to hold on to. "My name's Josie Rochester. Are you on the floor just up here?"

"If it's floor D, then yeah," I said.

Josie's eyes brightened and she grinned widely. "Sweet! I'm on this floor too, but I have my stuff unpacked already. What room?"

"Room 18," I responded mechanically.

"Cool!" Josie seemed like the type who was easily excited, because in some miraculous way her grin got bigger. "My room is right across from yours. I'm almost always going to be there, with my roommate Clorissa. I think your roommate is already in your room – I think I heard somebody in there not too long ago. The tag said Alice Cullen, and she's really nice. She's in my section!" The sophomore looked quite proud of herself as she tugged the suitcase up the stairs and I followed anxiously.

"What do you play then?" I asked curiously. I personally played clarinet, and I really enjoyed it. Marching too, even though off the field I was clumsy enough to set off a nuclear bomb.

"Clarinet, of course," Josie exclaimed proudly. "Me and Meg, my clarinet, have been together for five years." Her chest puffed out slightly as she paused in her haul up the stairs. She grunted as she pulled it up the final step, and didn't offer to give it back to me. "But if you're room 18, then you're this way. Follow me."

She towed my suitcase away, leaving me with no choice but to follow. I looked around, seeing all of these room doors with names on them. Some people were out in the hallways, and one of them called to Josie as she walked past.

"Josie!" the girl called. "Stealing someone's suitcase?"

Josie grimaced and paused in her walking, glancing my way. "No, Audrey," she replied cheerfully. "I'm helping someone out." She gestured toward me – an odd contortion for someone with both hands full. "This is a new girl. She plays clarinet, like me! Any new flutes this year?"

The other girl, Audrey, grimaced. "No," she answered.

Josie beamed. "Well, there. I'm taking her to her room."

Audrey looked at me for the first time, and smiled warmly. "Then don't let me hold you up," she said. "But just to warn you – Josie's a little too excited for her own good. She's a bit…" She made a circle with her finger on the side of her head; Josie frowned almost in an angry fashion.

"Hey! I am not crazy! I'll get you at dinner, you jerk."

Audrey laughed and I smiled. Josie was obviously a well-liked band member. She pulled my suitcase down a couple rooms and set it down, gesturing towards a door with two names on it. **Alice Cullen **and **Isabella Swan** was what it said. Josie observed it for a moment and looked at me with another big smile on her face as she looked me up and down. I blushed; in Phoenix I never got this much attention.

"Isabella Swan, huh? From Phoenix?" she asked.

"I prefer Bella," I corrected her. "And yes, I'm from Phoenix."

"Lucky." Josie grimaced as she observed me again. "I don't know why you moved to Indiana, though. It's humid in the summer and freezing in winter. I'd love to live somewhere else." Without waiting for a response, she smacked herself in the forehead. "Oh! Sorry, you probably want to get into your room. I'm being a doushbag. Here, I'll introduce you and then I'll be off. Clorissa probably wants to watch a movie or something before dinner." She knocked on my door and a melodic voice trilled from inside,

"Yes? Come on in."

Josie grinned at me and opened the door. I peeked inside.

The room was fairly small, with two sets of bunk beds inside. But each only had one mattress on it, leaving plenty of room for suitcases. To the right of the door there was a small kitchen-like area with a few cabinets and two chairs. Already there was a small fridge tucked there on the counter, plugged in to one of the three outlets in the room. A large suitcase was in the corner by one of the beds, open and already half-empty. There were beautiful purple sheets on one of the beds – which I assumed came from the suitcase. And sitting on that mattress was a tiny pixie-like girl who was beaming at Josie and me.

Her hair was short and black, cut in almost an exotic way so it stuck out in every direction. She had a tiny frame; I doubted she could hold an instrument for too long without getting tired. Her eyes were an emerald green and her skin was somewhat pale, like mine was. She was wearing a pair of long jean shorts and a beautiful green blouse. She smiled at me.

"You must be Bella," she said, her voice charming as she hopped up from her bed. "I'm Alice Cullen. I can see you've already met Josie here." With this, Alice smiled at Josie, who beamed in return.

"I'm going to go check on Clorissa – are you going to sit with us at dinner?" she asked.

Alice smiled. "Of course I will. Sitting with my favorite clarinet is a duty I must oblige to." She bowed – which was an odd position for someone sitting down. Josie grinned and skipped out of the room leaving the two of us alone. I pulled my suitcases in and shut the door behind me.

"Hi!" Alice said brightly as I set my suitcases down next to hers. "I hope Josie didn't scare you. She's a bit overexcited – band camp is her favorite place in the world." Her voice sounded like a beautiful bird's chirping. "She doesn't have much fun at home, especially with being adopted and all of that… sorry, I'm babbling. Do you want to get settled first, or do you want to go meet everyone? I could introduce you to the kids who will be sitting with us at dinner, if you want. Or we could watch a movie like Josie and Clorissa are. It's your choice."

I blinked. Since when had anyone turned on the 'Nice' button? Had I been back at Phoenix, my roommate probably would have left already to go talk to her friends and leave me on my own. By the sounds of it, Alice had plenty to talk to – why was she sticking around to see what _I _wanted to do?

"Er… I'll unpack. You go on ahead," I told her as I bent down to unzip my suitcase full of everything I could manage to bring that would make me feel more at home. Flannel sheets (I knew it got warm, but flannel was fuzzy enough for me to go to sleep), alarm clock, pillows, and a few boxes of chocolate chip cookies made by my mother.

But Alice was suddenly at my side, plucking out the flannel sheets and taking them over to my bed. Confused, I stood up.

"No, no, no," Alice chirped as she spread the sheets out over my mattress. "It wouldn't be nice to leave you here to fend for yourself. I'll help you. Then, if we have time, I can show you around the floor and introduce you to a few of my friends. But by the looks of things, we'll probably have to go straight to dinner and then to concert practice. We won't be back to this room until about eight or nine." She tucked in the sheets around the corners and bounced back to me.

"What else do you need help with?" she asked cheerfully.

I looked at her as if she were insane – which, I was beginning to think she was. First Josie with my suitcase falling down the stairs, and now Alice was helping me unpack. What was going on here?

"I can get it, really," I insisted. I preferred being alone anyway. "I'll be alright. You can go see your friends."

"I'll see my friends at dinner," Alice told me as she stole my covers from out of my hands. She pranced over to the bed – I now noticed that when she walked, it was more like dancing. "After all, most of them are probably unpacking too. I don't want to disturb them, you know?"

I took out my pillows and threw them onto my bed. "Is there a closet in here?" I asked.

Alice now danced over to her bed and pointed to a dark oak sliding door. "There's a pretty decent-sized closet in here. I saved an entire rack for you, Bella. But I hope you don't mind if I look through your things every once in a while. I don't want you wearing anything horrid," she told me. As she said this, she opened up the door. I stared. She was so small, and yet she acted as if opening that huge door was nothing at all. I would never understand science – not in a million years. At least, not the sciences involving Alice.

I walked over and took a peek in. I think what Alice meant by one rack was one-fourth of the closet. Stylish outfits occupied most of it. Some of them I doubted were even her size. For instance, the pair of jeans that was on the hanger at the end. They were far too long for her to wear, I bet.

"What are these for?" I asked, gesturing to the longer and bigger sets of clothing.

Alice flushed slightly, looking embarrassed. "Well, I didn't know what your size was, and I figured you'd need some fashionable clothes. I hope you're not angry," she said.

My eyes widened. The only words I could really think were, 'Wow' and 'Why did she do this for me?' "Er… thanks," I said, completely taken by surprise. Even Angela, who had been my kindest friend back in Phoenix, had not done this sort of thing for me. Mainly it was because she could hardly afford it. By the amount of clothes Alice had, I figured she had plenty of money to spare. Especially since she was willing to spend it on me.

"No problem," she said, looking relieved that I accepted her kindness.

She helped me hang up some of my clothes – I kept most of them in my suitcase, since they would typically go into drawers at home. I set up my alarm clock and my laptop. By the time we were finished, it was ten minutes until dinner.

"Don't forget your lanyard," Alice warned me as she placed hers around her neck. "It has your room key, your food card, and your name tag on it. The directors need us to wear these for the first few days. Oh, and this pouch is where all of our marching charts go." I knew some of this – thought marching band camp in Phoenix only involved going to school for a few hours and working hard on marching and playing before going home. I wondered if it would be any fun here. There were no eager parents awaiting me when I got home to demand how my day had been and what I thought of the music.

That, in itself, was a relief.

"C'mon." In a bold gesture, Alice took my hand and led me outside. I tripped over the doorframe and crashed into someone across the hall. Alice didn't let go of my hand, so she was yanked back and fell backwards. We all fell into a heaping pile of human being.

"I'm so sorry," I gushed as I stumbled to my feet. The girl I had knocked over had dark brown hair that went down to her shoulders. She was wearing thick-framed black glasses and had deep hazel eyes. She got to her feet and brushed some of the dust off of her black and neon shirt. She smiled at me.

"It's okay," she said. "You're the new clarinet – Isabella, right?" Before I could answer, I was cut off.

"Sarah, Sarah!" cried someone. A girl with exceptionally light brown hair rushed around the corner now, her sapphire blue eyes wide as she took in her friend. "I heard you fall, are you okay?"

The girl, Sarah, laughed. "I'm fine, Abby, I'm fine." She turned to me again and laughed to see that my cheeks were a faint pink.

Alice danced to my side as if she had never fallen over. "Sarah, this is Bella. Bella, this is Sarah. She's a flute. The other one is Abby – she's a guard member," she explained briefly. I gave each girl a smile and Abby waved cheerfully.

"Hi!"

"Hi," I answered.

Sarah thrust out her hand and shook my own, her hazel eyes bright. "Nice to meet you," she said in what I assumed was an attempt at a formal tone. "Sorry for running into you. I probably should have been looking." I blinked in amazement. She was actually blaming _herself_ for our pile-up? I had been the one to trip and make a fool of myself.

"Er…"

"Look, we should get to dinner," Alice interceded, grabbing my hand again as she shut the door to our room. "We don't want to be late, or all of our seats will be taken up at the table." She began leading me down the hall, and Abby and Sarah followed.

It was more or less about a four to five minute walk to the cafeteria. As we walked, I took the time to look around the campus and allow Alice to lead me to and fro about the sidewalk as she and the two girls behind me chattered about things that I didn't understand – like current relationships and scandals, and problems that other band kids were having.

The campus around us was rather nice. It was peaceful and quiet; with green grass and huge trees that shadowed the lawns. It'd be a good place to read, on Saturdays and Sundays that we had off. At least, that was what I had gathered from the schedule sent to us from the band instructor. The road was nicely paved, but we had to watch for cars as we waited to get to the other side and to the cafeteria. It was just then that I realized that Alice was talking to me now.

"-Emmett and Rosalie usually sit with us. There are some other people too. Abby and Sarah and Josie and Clorissa and Audrey and Slinky and Theresa and Emily. It sounds like a lot of people, but we always manage," Alice was saying.

"Oh," was all I could respond.

Alice was leading me into the cafeteria, Sarah and Abby behind us. A weird smell hit me and I realized that it was all the food coming from the actual dining area. Alice gestured for me to get into a line of people. I did so, and found that I needed to get my food card out. I fumbled with the plastic envelope it was in for a moment before finally getting it out. It was then I realized that Alice, Sarah, and Abby were all waving towards someone at the front of the line. I turned my head to see who they were waving to.

It was Josie, and she was waving back. Beside her was a smaller framed girl with thick glasses like Sarah's and dark brown hair that was tied back in a neat ponytail. Her eyes were a chocolate brown as she smiled serenely in our direction.

"That's Clorissa," Alice informed me. "She's Josie's roommate."

I remembered Josie mentioning something about Clorissa, and nodded knowingly. I was beginning to get the hang of this, if I was being honest with myself.

"So I've heard you're from Phoenix," the girl Sarah said as we were waiting in line. She smirked when I flushed slightly. "So what's it like? I bet it's better than here."

"Was it nice?" Abby asked.

"Oh, it was nice," I answered, remembering the non-humid air back in Arizona like a fantasy. "It wasn't as humid as it is here, and it was always warm – no matter what the time of year was. It wasn't that pretty, though. Everything was brown and dusty back there. Here, I think it's prettier. There's green, but not too much of it. I like it, except for the fact that your breathe water every time you take in a breath." Alice snickered as Sarah and Abby laughed. "But other than that, it's not bad."

"I'm glad you like it here," Abby said with sincerity. I smiled at her, and handed my card to the lady as she swiped it down her register.

"Thank you," I said politely, and stepped into the food line to gather my dinner. Alice, Sarah, and Abby were right behind me.

I found that there was a variety of food here. I grabbed a buttered roll and a hot dog – considering as I didn't want to eat too much on my first night. I didn't want these girls to get the wrong impression. But, as I was beginning to get used to, I was shocked.

All three girls piled up their plates with liberty, and I found that they didn't really care what I thought of their eating habits. Back in Phoenix, Jessica and her group of friends had scoffed when I brought back an entire meal to the table. It was reassuring to see that these girls weren't being picky about what they ate. Reassured, I just grabbed a small bowl of salad to add onto my meal. I waited for my three new friends as they finished collecting their food, and they came to join me.

"There's our table," Alice cheeped as she gestured with her head towards a table (well, two tables put together, really) in the corner already occupied by at least seven or eight people. I gawked at it and Alice smiled at me good-naturedly as Sarah and Abby shot past us to get to the table. She misinterpreted my stare.

"Don't worry, there will be enough room for you," she said.

Sure, I believed that. But the question going through my head was if they would all like me. Back in Phoenix, I had a hard time fitting in. Even though I already had a few friends here, it seemed as though I was pushing my limit. Was I?

"Guys, this is Bella. She's from Phoenix," Alice introduced me. She had me sit, and she sat beside me. I found that I was seated between her and one of the girls from before, Audrey. She smiled.

"Hey," came the nonchalant greeting from the others around the table.

"Oh, introductions!" Alice exclaimed. She looked apologetically at me, as if she were truly sorry that this was happening to me. She began gesturing to people around the table.

"You already know Josie, Sarah, and Abby." The three mentioned grinned at me. "The girl sitting next to Josie is Clorissa – she's a flute." It was the dark-haired girl that I remembered from earlier in the line. She gave me that same, serene smile. "That's Emily, a clarinet." A blonde like Josie, but with brown eyes instead of green, smiled cheerfully at me. "And next to her is Theresa; she's another clarinet." A girl with exceptionally light blonde hair and sharp blue-gray eyes looked up from the book she was reading. She grinned at me and turned back to her book.

I didn't think that I would remember all of these names. My eyes involuntarily moved to the next two. One was a dark-haired boy with a big bulky frame, and he was sitting next to Theresa. His arm was gently around the shoulders of the girl next to him – a breathtakingly beautiful blond whose hair was much richer than any of the other blondes at the table. Her eyes were a rich honey golden as she smiled at me. The boy's eyes were blue.

"That's Emmett and Rosalie," Alice clarified for me. "Emmett plays tuba and Rosalie's a trumpet. Darn brass."

Emmett scowled at her, but Rosalie was unaffected by the teasing remark.

"This here is Audrey," Alice said, dipping her head to the other girl next to me. "She's a flute too."

"Hi. We've met before," Audrey said with a small laugh. I managed a faint smile in return. She turned back to her French fries and popped one in her mouth casually.

"Don't forget about me!" a small blonde girl, whose hair was barely halfway down her neck, protested. Her chocolate brown eyes were sullen as she glared at Alice as if Alice had forgotten to give her a Christmas present.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Slinky," Alice apologized. I think they were almost the same size.

"Bella, this is Stephenie. She's a tuba like Emmett. We call her Slinky, though," Alice told me with a smile. Theresa, Audrey, and some of the others laughed quietly at the nickname.

I blinked, not catching on. "Why is she called that?" I asked.

"Because I fell down two flights of stairs last year when I was a freshman like a slinky!" Slinky exclaimed as if it were the best thing to be bragging about in the whole world.

"We think she might have suffered some brain damage from it," Audrey confided in me, loud enough for everyone to heard. The entire table chortled with laughter, except for Emmett. He frowned as he glared around at everyone.

"Hey! Don't make fun of my tuba buddy," he said, his voice deep like a grizzly bear's growl. That just made the table laugh even harder.

"We love you, Emmett," Emily giggled.

"Not as much as I do," Rosalie teased.

"Ugh. We don't need to hear about that," Theresa shot back, looking up from her book as everyone laughed.

"Bella doesn't need her mind damaged," Clorissa snickered.

I had the huge feeling that I was going to like it here. A lot.

* * *

EOC: That's it, my dearest friends. For now. I'll send you all e-mails through the school server or something whenever I get this thing updated. The next update will probably be around Christmas Eve to Christmas… depending on how long I'll be allowed to write. All of you guys will be more important, especially those of you who only had a line or two. I love you all, Merry Christmas, and Happy Birthday, Clorissa! I love you all so much. – Josie

And for any of you random readers out there, thanks for reading. I love you guys too. XD 'Til next time. – Dark and Wild


	2. Chapter 2

Yay, guys! I finished the second chapter! Aren't you all so proud of me? This chapter, Bella meets Edward. Isn't that exciting? (Not really, because they don't actually talk at all). Instead of sounding like some old school teacher, here's the next chapter of Listen to the Band ! And for any of my dearest readers/friends that would like to know what everyone plays, here is the list:

_Bella and Alice_: Clarinet

_Rosalie_: Trumpet

_Emmett_: Tuba

_Jasper_: Tenor Sax

_Seth Clearwater_: Alto Sax

_Edward_: Pit (Mallets, to be exact. The closest you can get to a piano in a marching band.)

_Leah Clearwater_: Flute

**Chapter 2: The First Practice**

We were just finished up dinner when Theresa asked, "So, were you in marching band at Phoenix? Or are you a rookie?" she asked with a smile in my direction.

"Yeah, I was in band. But we didn't have band camp like this, though," I confessed.

Josie blinked at me. "Wait… how does that work? Were you one of those bands that went year round because your directors had no life?" she asked, sounding shocked that I would be in a band like that. I figured from her tone that this was a band that didn't stay up into ungodly hours of the night drilling and marching. Phoenix had been like that sometimes, when we had a competition or an exhibition. We had been very competitive.

I nodded. "I guess you could say that."

"I feel sorry for you," Clorissa told me. "I'd hate it if Mrs. McCullough or HR did that to us. Did you practice after school, or before?"

"Both," I answered.

Everyone stared at me like I was some kind of alien. I hadn't lied to them – before school was instrumental practice and after school was marching on the field. It had really restricted my after school activities, not that I did many in the first place. That was one of the reasons I decided to come here. I had heard that this band didn't practice as much. And, from what I was gathering on the bewildered, disgusted, and sympathetic expressions of the kids around me, that rumor was no doubt true.

"Wow," was all Emmett could manage in reply.

"That must have really been annoying," Rosalie agreed, offering a sympathetic glance. "We only practice before school and during first period. There's no way you can be in the band without marching first."

"Well, I love it!" Slinky exclaimed. "I love being in marching band, that is. Oh, and I forgot to tell you guys – I've been transferred out of first period art into band! I can be a full-time tuba!" She looked exceptionally proud of herself and I began wondering if what Audrey had said earlier about brain damage was true.

"That's awesome!" Emmett cheered, grinning as he reached across the table to give her a high-five. Which, due to the size of his arm, did not look very difficult for him at all. "Now I have someone to save me from Jackie!"

"Jackie?" I asked softly to Alice.

"Jackie's the tuba section leader this year," she explained heartily. "She's kind of like a mother to all the tubas, and well… like a mother, she gets irritated with her children. Emmett is someone who frequently upsets her. Slinky normally steps in for him."

"Ah."

At this point, we were all ready to leave. I stood up with my tray, half of the table following my lead. It was a little unnerving, considering as nobody really looked up to me in Phoenix. In fact…. they all kind of looked _down _on me. Alice took the lead though, saving me from the spotlight. Everyone followed her, and I went with them to dump off the trash. And while we were all leaving, Emily asked,

"Are you ready for your first practice with us? Did you put your clarinet in the band room?"

I nodded in response. "I did it first thing when I came here. Before I picked up my luggage and went to my room," I replied.

"Does your clarinet have a name?" Suddenly Josie was with us, beaming as she took a place on my other side. I felt so awkward, being here in between two people that I barely knew and who were also being very nice to me. In a strange way that I'd never known before, I loved it. But that didn't stop the fact that I had absolutely no answer to Josie's question. Naming my clarinet? I'd never really thought much of it, really.

"Er…"

"Sorry about that," Emily apologized. "I think Josie is the only one who actually has named an inanimate object."

I smiled at that, and Josie scowled playfully.

"I see how it is," she snapped. For a moment I actually thought she was serious, until I recognized the sarcasm dripping from her words. "Fine, be that way, Emily!" She dashed ahead to walk with who looked like Sarah, Abby, and Clorissa.

"Are you all always like this?" I asked Emily.

Emily shrugged. "It comes and it goes," she answered. "Josie's always like that, though." She laughed good-naturedly, and I couldn't help but chuckle in agreement.

At this point we were entering the building that I guessed the band room was in. Alice, as small as she was, was the one to hold the door open for everyone that had come with us. When I entered (I was the last one), she shut the door and took my hand. I blinked at the bold contact as she led me into the band room.

To what the band room in Phoenix was like, this place was rather small. But it had high ceilings and plenty of chairs – enough to seat about a hundred and fifty. There were music stands throughout the room, with various pieces of music on them. It seemed as though everything was ready for practice. Alice, Josie, Clorissa, Sarah, Emily, Theresa, and I were practically the first ones in here. The only other people were three boys who looked like seniors, who were seated together and practiced what looked like conducting.

Theresa was the one who saw me staring.

"That's Kyle Barker, Stuart Showalter, and Kyle Torain," she explained good-naturedly. "They're our drum majors this year. They're really nice guys." I nodded in response and followed her to the section where Emily, Josie, and Alice were sitting. I remembered that they were all clarinets like me.

Their instrument cases were under their chairs. I had set mine amongst some other instrument cases, so I went to fetch it. When I returned, I found that a seat had been saved for me in between Alice and Josie. Theresa was sitting next to her, and Emily was on Alice's other side. I took the seat graciously, and Josie smiled at me as she put her clarinet together. Alice was absorbed in tuning; when she played, it sounded much nicer than any sound I ever heard come from a clarinet. Was there anything she couldn't do perfectly? I was honestly beginning to doubt it. Josie finished putting on her mouthpiece and began tuning also. No offense to her, but I believed that Alice sounded much better.

That was when the others of our table, and more, arrived. That was when I realized that Abby wasn't with us. When had she disappeared? I turned to Alice.

"Where did Abby go?"

"Abby is a guard member," Alice said knowingly, pulling her clarinet away from her mouth and smiling at me. "So she has to go to the gym with the rest of the guard. They don't practice with us, most of the time. On the field, they do. Here and during sectionals, they're in the gym. I was in guard once, in junior high. I didn't find much joy in twirling a flag around. Though I don't mean any offense to the guard. Not to mention the outfits are almost always horribly tacky." She shuddered. Then she perked up, seeming to have remembered something. "Oh! I have to go out and help the librarians tonight – I forgot! I'll be right back." She handed me her instrument and practically danced off.

Just as she went out, a crowd of laughing, raucous students came in.

One was a tall, lean boy with honey blonde hair and what looked like chocolate brown eyes. He greeted Alice as she passed, and I could have sworn that I saw the little pixie blush. Walking in behind him were a pair that looked like brother and sister. Both had ebony black hair and hazel eyes. And behind them was the most breathtakingly beautiful boy I had ever seen.

He had bronze hair, uncombed like he had just gotten out of bed. His skin was pale – almost as pale as my own. But it looked like he spent a lot of time outside, because he was leanly muscular (I could see that from here). And his eyes were a sparkling emerald green that matched the green grass outside. He glanced my way and flashed a smile, showing pearly white teeth. I nearly fainted.

"Oh. So you've spotted the pretty bunch," Josie remarked, her voice suddenly going a little sour at the mention of them.

"Who are they?" I asked.

"Only the hottest kids in the band," Theresa said from Josie's other side. "Well, not all of them have been in the band the entire time, but… they're still pretty popular. You should see them at school."

Josie snorted. "Psh, yeah. After one of them rudely insulted Sarah," she growled defensively.

I sensed some tension here, and was confused. What had I just stumbled into? "Well, what are their names?" I asked, my eyes still on the bronze-haired god, who took a seat in the back near the percussion supplies.

"The two black-haired kids are the Clearwaters. Seth, alto sax, and Leah, a flute. They're both fairly nice, but Leah can be a bit of a… well, _female dog_ sometimes, if you get my drift," Theresa informed her.

"Oh, and the blonde one is Jasper Hale. He's Rosalie's twin brother. Alice has had a crush on him since anyone can remember. He's not too bad – sometimes he sits with us at lunch," Emily added on, looking grave and serious. "He plays the tenor sax."

"And the one back there is Edward," Josie seethed, clenching her teeth and unclenching them again. "Alice's brother. Plays mallets."

"What did he _do_?" I asked. From what I knew of the small blonde sophomore clarinet, it took a lot to get her angry.

Josie turned her head away from the back of the room entirely, scowling at nothing in particular. "Edward asked Sarah out on a date to one of the dances last year. She said yes, of course; I mean, what girl wouldn't? But while they were there, she caught him kissing another girl. Twice. She confronted him about it and he just brushed her off and told her to find her own ride home. Called her mom and then called Abby, Clorissa, and me. I've never heard her so torn up. I've hated him ever since."

"Oh." I glanced back at the green-eyed boy Edward, who caught me looking again and grinned widely. I blushed and turned away, rubbing the back of my neck.

At this point, the room was practically full. There were more clarinets sitting with us, some of them sending me curious glances. I flushed every time someone looked at me and focused on putting together my own clarinet. Alice returned and began tuning with Josie and some of the other clarinets again. I joined them to take my mind off of all of the new information that I had just learned.

And then practice began as the band director stood up on her podium, looking quite serious as she looked around and began speaking.

X-x-X

"Now we can go to bed," Josie was saying as we all left the band room together an hour later. Her eyelids were already drooping as she walked – it was obvious she didn't think much of sleep during the day. Sarah and Clorissa (who had joined us after practice) were helping her along, nudging her in the right direction whenever she started walking in the wrong direction. It looked like poor Josie was out of it. Emily and Theresa had stayed behind to help out the band director and the drum majors, and probably to walk back with some other friends.

It was dark outside – I hadn't noticed it in the brightly lit band room, as the sky had darkened rather quickly. I suppose it had been starting to do that after dinner – but I hadn't really thought about it. I was more focused on getting to know everyone. Considering, they all wanted to get to know me, which was still bewildering me right to this moment. I'd never had this many friends before.

"Well, at least it's a Friday," Alice chirped. She smiled up at me, and I smiled back hesitantly. "That means that we have tomorrow and Sunday off. We can sleep in. Which I think Josie desperately needs." Her emerald green eyes went to the stumbling sophomore with a warm smile. Josie didn't acknowledge it – probably because she was already beginning to doze off. "Our band directors aren't those die-hard band geeks," she was then explaining to me. "I mean, they'd like us to practice, but they don't really enforce it."

"What do you mean? Like, no practice cards signed by your parents?" I then asked.

Alice nodded cheerfully. "No practice cards. It's great, really. Even though my mom and dad are always after me to practice. I bet they'll be all over me this weekend," she said, her tone going a tad sour at the thought of it.

"What do you mean? Aren't your parents at home?" I questioned her.

Alice rolled her eyes. "No," she confessed. "My dad, Carlisle, is a professional doctor. He took over for Audrey's mom this year as camp physician. He and my mom Esme are really close, so my mother decided that she wanted to be a chaperone. She works our hallway, which means she'll be waking us up every day." She let out a sigh. "But at least tomorrow we can all sleep in."

"Yeah," Clorissa said as Josie nearly fell over into the street. "Because I don't think Josie would ever wake up on demand tomorrow."

We all laughed, and even that didn't arouse the sophomore out of her dazed and exhausted state.

The rest of the walk to the dorms was spent in comfortable silence, and I mused over how close these girls all seemed. The way they had all welcomed me was practically unnatural, but I was enjoying it all the same. Especially Alice, because I think she was going to turn out to be a very good friend. Josie, Sarah, and Clorissa too. I was also sure that the others would also all turn out to be really nice, since they had been so nice to me already. I was already liking band camp. As we dropped Josie and Clorissa off at their room and Sarah said goodnight with hugs to both Alice and me, a question popped into my head.

"Hey, Alice?" I asked as she pulled out the key to our room and stuck it in. She inclined her head to acknowledge that she was listening. "What are we going to do tomorrow?"

Alice shrugged as she pushed open the door. "Well, sleeping in is a first," Alice declared. "Breakfast goes to eleven tomorrow, so I think both of us can get up on time. Unless you sleep in past noon, like Rosalie does?" She cocked and eyebrow at me and I smiled, shaking my head. Alice grinned. "Good," she said. "So I also think I can find you a good outfit in that time. You don't have a boyfriend, do you?"

I stopped, startled by the sudden question. In fact, I stumbled over the threshold again and practically crashed into my bed in surprise. Alice squealed her disdain and I assured her that I was fine before straightening up and answering her question.

"Er… no?" I made it sound like a question.

Alice frowned in confusion. "Why not?" she demanded, as if I had just confessed to a capital crime. "Someone as beautiful and as sweet as you couldn't be single. It isn't the way God made the world." She put her hands on her hips as she looked me up and down as if I was going to sprout a third head out of my stomach. I blushed at her compliment and turned away.

"I'm not any of those things, really," I told her firmly. "I'm plain, and normal. And it's perfectly alright that I don't have a boyfriend."

Alice snorted. "Well, I guarantee that by the end of band camp, I shall have found you an appropriate, nice boy and have put you together like peas in a pod. My mission begins tomorrow." She puffed her chest out and saluted to me, and I giggled as I went to my suitcase to pull out pajamas and toiletries. I doubted she'd find any boy what would take a liking to me here. I honestly doubted it. It wasn't Alice that I doubted, it was me. I was always the problem when it came to a relationship.

"Where's the bathroom?" I asked.

Alice pointed her finger at me accusingly. "Don't think you've weeded yourself out of this situation, Bella," she warned. "I will find you the perfect man." Then she completely changed demeanor and pranced out the door, gesturing down the hall. "It's right down the hall to the right. You can't miss it."

I went down to the end of the hall and turned right like Alice had said to do. I found the bathroom, changed into my pajamas in one of the stalls, and brushed my teeth and combed through my hair before putting it up in a ponytail. I was ready for bed. I bet to myself that Josie was already crashed on her mattress, sleeping an undreamt sleep. It was shocking on how connected I felt with all of the girls already – and the first day hadn't really even ended yet. I smiled to myself as I stumbled back to my room.

I brushed past a beautiful woman, who had caramel-colored hair and the warmest hazel eyes. Her skin was pale like Alice's, and I accidentally brushed past her when I tripped over my own shoes and nearly fell headlong into the floor.

"Oh, dear!" the woman exclaimed as she rushed back to me. "Are you alright?"

I nodded, looking down to make sure my feet were still there. "I'm fine," I answered hesitantly.

The woman smiled warmly and looked up at my own chocolate brown eyes (she was about two to three inches shorter than I was). "Oh, have you been in band before, dear? I don't think I've ever seen you around before," she said gently.

"Yes, I'm new," I told her. "My name is Isabella Swan, but I prefer Bella."

"Oh, Bella! You must my daughter Alice's roommate. I'm her mother, Esme Cullen. It's a pleasure to meet you," she said in a gush as she shook my hand as if it were an honor to meet me. "I hope you have a good night's sleep, then. Enjoy your time at band camp!" The little woman Esme turned away and walked gracefully down the hall and disappeared around the corner.

I went back to my room and was about to use my key from my lanyard to get in when Alice opened the door and smiled brightly. The little pixie-like girl had put on the fanciest silk pajamas I had ever seen, and I instantly felt underdressed in my sweatpants and overlarge t-shirt. She let me in and shut the door behind me, locking it swiftly before folding herself into a sitting position in the middle of the floor.

"Do you want to stay up, or do you want to go to sleep?" she asked cheerfully.

"I think I'll catch some winks," I told her as I dropped off my toiletries and climbed into bed. I settled down and pulled up the covers to my chin. "G'night, Alice."

Somehow Alice was already nestled in her own blankets like a cocoon. "Good night, Bella!" she sang brightly, and she reached up with a finger and flicked out the lights.

* * *

EOC: Yay! Another chapter finished. I really like this story, actually. I admit it will go a little slow, but that means even more chapters! Next chapter is Edward and Bella's first conversation/first other things. =] I hope you all liked that one, and the next chapter will be better, I promise. Not a lot of humor, because I suck at that. XP Anyways… Merry Christmas, my dear friends! – Josie

And for all of my other readers, Merry Christmas to you as well! I'm glad you're enjoying this as much as my band is. XD Thanks for sticking with me, folks! – Dark and Wild

To everyone: Yes, this is one of those 'Edward is a player but changes heart' kind of stories. He's human now, so he has flaws. Sorry, guys. XD Hence the Sarah vs. Edward drama and the mentioning of other girls. Oh, and there will be tension in between Edward and Alice.


	3. Chapter 3

Another new chapter. Hoorah! Disclaimer's in the first chapter, but I shall repeat it again. I do **not** own the characters of Twilight – they are the property of Stephenie Meyer. Although I heard she's going to sell Edward! =D I would SO be at that auction. Naw, I'm only kidding. We girls only wish that would happen. Anyways… here's the next chapter of Listen to the Band ! This is Bella and Edward's first conversation/first encounter with one another that doesn't involve just looking. Yay!

**Chapter 3: First Saturday Morning**

When I next awoke, it took me a moment to remember where I was and what I was doing here on this unknown mattress. That was when I remembered that I was at band camp, and had met so many nice people that in truth I could already call my friends. Strange. It hadn't felt real at all – it had felt like a dream. Nobody was that nice to me in real life, except for my family.

But the rustling coming from the general direction of the closet made me realize that this _was_ real life and I _did _have nice people as new friends here.

"Bella! You're awake!" Suddenly Alice was above me, her emerald green eyes bright with joy as she threw back my covers and danced over to the closet again. I sat up, blinking at her groggily. How could one person be so hyper this early in the morning? I glanced at my alarm – it was only eight.

"When did you get up?" I asked her, my voice hoarse with sleep and lack of use.

Alice darted out of the closet with an outfit already in her hands. "I was up about a half an hour ago," she chirped with a bright smile. I looked at her disbelievingly. Already she had on short denim shorts and a black tank top with lace lining the bottom. She tossed me the outfit, and I barely caught it, taken by surprise. "I already picked an outfit out for you today, Bella. You're going to love Saturdays at band camp. We get to hang out in the lounge and buy a few coffees and visit a few people. And I heard from a few girls in the bathroom that there's going to be a party in the commons tonight!"

She looked so excited, and it was hard to resist her mood. But I looked down at the outfit, embarrassed. "You didn't need to pick something out for me," I told her, biting my lip. Nobody had ever done this for me before.

Alice seemed to read that from my expression. "Last night I said that Mission Bella Boy begins today. Picking outfits are a part of the mission. So you need to wear that." She dipped her head to the outfit that I was holding in my hands. "And hurry up about it, because I want to see who's at breakfast already." She sounded so friendly, but there was an orderly undertone that made me get up right away and to my suitcase for my things.

I grabbed my toiletries and the outfit Alice had given me and headed off dutifully to the bathroom like I'd done last night. I changed quickly into the outfit Alice had bought for me – which was a pair of black shorts that went halfway down my thighs, and a purple tank top very much like Alice's. I couldn't believe that I was actually wearing something of hers, and that she had just given them to me so freely. I still couldn't believe how many friends I had made in the past twenty hours. It still boggled my mind.

I brushed my teeth and hurriedly combed my hair before heading back to the room. I tripped over myself and nearly fell flat on my face when I miraculously caught myself and pushed myself to my feet again.

When I got back to the room, Alice was already putting away her things in a neat kind of way. Her hair was now combed and her emerald green eyes seemed to shimmer. As soon as she spotted me, she began pulling things out again. Bewildered by this, I asked,

"What are you doing?"

"What do you think I'm doing?" Alice retorted sharply, catching me off guard with her tone. "I forgot to put makeup on you. I can't believe I'm so stupid. Sit down on your bed, and then I'll spruce you up to look like a fine woman who didn't just get out of bed."

"But I _am _a woman who just got out of bed," I protested as Alice neared me with threatening looking eyeliner and blush.

Alice scowled. "You won't look it when I'm through with you," she said. She made it sound like she was threatening me with something horrible. Which, in reality, she was. I almost never put makeup on unless it was an emergency.

So we ended up going to breakfast at nine.

When we arrived, there were some of our friends seated at a single table. It looked like Audrey, Slinky, Emmett, and Clorissa. Emmett looked extremely sleepy, like he had literally just woken up. Which was entirely possible because it looked like Slinky was continually elbowing him to keep him awake. I wonder why he was even here, if he was so sleepy.

I got my answer once I had the lady swipe my card into the register and got into line.

The godly boy, Edward, was waiting in line when Alice and I got there.

He looked at me and smiled. I felt Alice grow rigid beside me as I stared at Edward in return. I think I was in a line to get food, but I couldn't remember much. His hypnotic green eyes had made me forget everything.

"Hello, Edward," Alice said frostily to him, breaking through my reverie. I remembered where I was, blushed, and looked down to grab a plate. I could still feel Edward's eyes on the side of my face, but I forced myself not to look at him. I didn't want to feel like a bird trapped by a cobra's gaze again. It was then I realized that I'd never heard Alice use that tone before. Even though I'd only known her for a day. She just hadn't seemed like the type to be angry… ever.

"Hello, Alice," Edward replied, not sounding the least bit icy at all. His voice was like silk or velvet – it was so smooth and beautiful to listen to.

But I forced myself to pay attention to how many pieces of bacon I had the cafeteria workers put on my plate. They handed me back my tray, and I smiled gratefully. I moved on to have some eggs put on my plate, hyper aware that Edward was still gazing at me. I felt Alice right beside me – and I could tell she wasn't taking her eyes off of her brother either. It made me feel uncomfortable, like I had jumped into the middle of a catfight and was going to get mauled because of it.

"Why are you here so early in the morning?" Alice asked, her tone clipped.

"I decided to get an early start," Edward replied as if he had no cares in the world. "Emmett didn't want to be left alone in our room, so I had him tag along with me." I saw him shrug out of the corner of my eye. "Is that a sin too now?" Suddenly I heard some venom in his voice, and looked to see that he was now glaring at his sister in frustration.

Alice rolled her eyes. "I just wish you wouldn't treat girls like toys, Edward. I never said that it was wrong to bring your friend to breakfast," she said, her tone weary. It sounded like she was tired of all this fighting.

"Girls aren't toys," Edward said. Alice looked at him in surprise, but her brother smirked. "They're tools to make me feel better."

Alice stiffened as one of the workers put bacon onto her plate. I stiffened too, completely taken off guard and angered by his insensitive remark. I couldn't tell if he was joking or not, but it didn't matter to me at the moment. Any boy who talked about girls that way deserved to be yelled at.

"I don't know who you think you are," I now spat at him, letting my anger broil in my stomach. Edward stared at me in surprise, and he almost forgot to hold onto his tray as we stepped out of line. "But we actually have these things called _feelings_, and they weren't made to be messed with by an idiot like you. God didn't make the world just for you. Get over yourself." That had been the first snappy remark I had made in ages. It actually felt kind of good to let loose some of my anger from Phoenix, about how people always treated me like a freak, even though I knew it wasn't right to bring it out on Edward. But in my opinion, he did deserve some kind of treatment like that though.

Before Edward could respond, Alice tugged me away to our table and set her stuff down.

"I can't believe you just did that," she told me in an amazed and awed sort of voice that someone used when they had just witnessed something that was monumental or excessively amazing.

"What?" came a simultaneous question from around the table. I ran my fingers through my hair, not really wanting to admit that I just snapped at one of the most gorgeous boys I had ever seen. Besides, it looked like I wouldn't have to admit it after all.

"It was amazing!" Alice exclaimed. "Edward just made this totally uncalled for remark, and Bella just… she just… went all out on him! I've never seen a girl actually stand up to him before. Most of them swoon at his feet and beg to be taken out. I think she gave him a righteous piece of her mind. He deserved it."

Just at that moment, Edward passed our table. He glared in my direction, and I just glared back. But I noticed something. There wasn't anger in his glare (though I will admit there was some), it was mostly frustration. Like he couldn't figure out what he had done wrong, or why I had snapped at him so feverishly. I returned the glare, though mine was more of a proud return, with my chin jutted out as if I dared him to come and talk to me like that again.

Edward just moved away to sit at his table. It looked like Jasper, Seth, and Leah were sitting with him. I saw that he began murmuring vehemently to them. They all sent me confused glances.

"Looks like you're going to have the pretty kids on your tail," Clorissa told me. Slinky nodded in agreement.

"I feel sorry for you," the little tuba said, patting my arm. Then she elbowed Emmett again. "Come on, Emmett! You've been up for fifteen minutes already… you shouldn't be so tired!"

Emmett grumbled something that was unintelligible, but Slinky seemed to hear it.

"All because Rose isn't up doesn't mean you can't be up without her," Slinky said chidingly. "Live life a little. Jackie will yell at you if she finds out you're so sleepy." Then Emmett was alert, looking around, but said nothing. He seemed to have been woken up with Slinky's rather vain threat. I hid a smile behind my hand as I forked some eggs into my mouth.

"Where is everyone else?" I then asked Alice.

"Well, I heard Sarah and Abby were still sleeping," Clorissa then said, answering the question for Alice. "Josie was definitely crashed. Rosalie normally sleeps in anyway, but you'd have to ask Leah for details. I don't know about Theresa and Emily… Audrey, do you know where they are?"

The sophomore flute shrugged. "Well, when I left Emily was just getting up. Theresa's rooming with Alanna, so I don't know about her. I think she might be sleeping in, but I'm not sure."

I remembered that Alanna was in the clarinet section – we had been introduced last night.

The rest of breakfast passed with easy-going conversation. Though I didn't miss how just about everyone at the table seemed to be throwing me awed glances. I knew that I had apparently been the first one to stand up to Edward, but I didn't know that everyone had been expecting someone to. Even Emmett looked at me like I was some form of pariah, and I had to look down in order to avoid everyone's gazes. They were beginning to irk me a little.

Just as we were leaving though, Emily and Theresa passed us. They smiled at me and waved as we walked by, and I grinned back. I was beginning to get used to their friendliness.

"Alright, so I think I need to take Bella down to the lounge for some good coffee," Alice was telling the others. "The stuff in the cafeteria is horrible. Anybody else want to join?"

"I'd best get Josie up," Clorissa replied. "I don't want her missing breakfast. She'll get cranky if she doesn't eat something by lunchtime. And believe you me, Josie is not a fun person to be around when she's crabby."

"Amen to that," Audrey laughed. "I wish you luck on surviving. Well, I actually plan on spending _my_ Saturday watching Angel, Season 3. Just got it from the library, and I actually want to turn it in when it's due this time around. See you guys later, at lunch. Bye Bella, Alice!" She went out the door with Clorissa.

"Wait for me! I want to watch Angel too!" Slinky exclaimed, rushing after her dear friend.

That left Emmett with us. "I'd like something with caffeine in it," he remarked like a lost puppy looking for a home.

Alice grinned. "Come on then, big boy," she told him. She took my hand and Emmett's in one of each of hers and practically dragged us down the stairs. I almost tripped on the way down, but managed to keep myself upright as we went into a little corridor leading to a nice-looking lounge.

My eyes roamed the place as we entered. There were two pool tables to the left, and a ping-pong table next to it. Then there was a group of chairs centering around a big T.V that had the early morning news on. There were a few adults sitting in those armchairs, and I assumed that they were chaperones. And peppered around the place were a few high tables with high chairs, some of them big enough to seat four. Alice went to claim one of those and joined us in a few seconds, leading us both up to a bar where a young woman was cleaning off what looked like a coffee machine.

"Excuse me," Alice chirped kindly.

The woman turned and smiled, coming to the counter. She leaned against it casually. "What would you like?"

It just occurred to me that I had no money – and the stuff down here cost money. Alice seemed to realize this at the same time I did, and patted my arm.

"Don't worry, I'll pay for you," she told me. I sighed, and reluctantly agreed. As much as I hated letting others pay for me, I did want some good coffee. I'd have to pay her back sometime. "I'll have a caramel latte," she told the bartender with a blinding smile. She looked at me an Emmett expectantly, and Emmett blurted out,

"I'll just have a mocha."

"Um… I'll take a normal Columbian Black with crème, please," I said.

Alice threw me a look as if she had expected me to spend more money or to get something better than a simple Columbian Black. She pulled out a ten and handed it to the bartender just as she was about to tell us the price. "Keep the change," the tiny pixie said cheerfully. The bartender smiled and took the bill, slipping it inside the register and went to prepare our drinks.

"I didn't expect to see you here this early in the morning, Alice," came a soothing, deep voice from behind us.

Alice whipped around, and I saw pink spread across her cheeks. "Er… hi, Jasper," Alice murmured in a voice totally unlike the one I normally heard her use. I turned my head to see Jasper – I remember Theresa telling me from the night before that Alice had a huge crush on him.

Jasper was tall and leonine just like he had been last night. Only I could see him up close toda. His honey-blonde hair was neatly combed this morning, which wasn't something I expected from a male. He had chocolate brown eyes that even to me were entrancing and beautiful. But a pair of green eyes that I had seen twice now were the eyes that had caught me under their spell. His skin was evenly tanned, and it looked fairly natural as far as tans went. He was wearing a pair of casual jeans and a British soccer jersey. He grinned at me.

"You must be Bella," he remarked knowingly. I nodded and he offered a hand. "I'm Jasper Hale – I'm Rosalie's twin brother."

I took his hand and caught Alice looking at me jealously. Her envy was in a good nature though, because she was smiling. "It's nice to meet you," I got out before the bartender came with our three drinks and said,

"Here's the mocha, a caramel latte, and a Columbian Black with crème. Yours?"

Alice took hers, Emmett took his, and I took mine. We smiled at the bartender and went to our table. Jasper followed us, and I could feel Alice tense with excitement beside me as we took our seats. Alice sat beside me, and Emmett sat across from me. Jasper sat across from Alice, his eyes all for her. I smiled to myself as I took a sip of my coffee, and winced when the hot liquid burned my tongue. I should have been more careful.

"So… Alice," Jasper said. Perhaps I was mistaken, but there might have been a hint of desperation in Jasper's voice as he stroke up a conversation. "Does your section look promising this year?" He sounded genuinely interested, as if everything about Alice fascinated him.

"Y-Yeah," she replied. That was the first time I had ever heard her stutter. "Um, I mean, the only new one this year is Bella… but I bet she's pretty good." Alice looked at me, and I saw fear in her eyes. I smiled encouragingly.

"Any new tubas this year Emmett?" Jasper then asked, reluctant to turn to the big tuba player sitting beside him.

"Huh? Oh, um, no. Alex is like the first new tuba we've had in a while. Well, except for Slinky last year, and me before that… aw, never mind. No, no new tubas," Emmett said, confusing himself for a moment before shaking his head and gulping down some of his coffee. _He_ didn't seem effected by the intensity of the temperature of the drink.

Jasper turned back to Alice. "Do you have anything to do this afternoon?" he asked her hopefully.

Alice looked completely surprised, and then flustered. The pink splotches were back on her face. "Er… not really. I mean, I was planning to be with Bella, but I mean…"

"No, she's free," I offered boldly. I didn't want Alice missing out on something all because of me. "I can find my way around today. I'll go see what this Angel thing is about with Audrey maybe. I'll be fine." I added the last bit when Alice threw me a disbelieving look. But then she was grateful.

Jasper brightened considerably. "That's great," he said, though his voice sounded more like the satisfied purr of a cat. "Would you like to go on a walk with me after lunch, then? We might swing by here and pick up a few iced coffees too, if you'd like."

Alice's face went from pink to red. "That's be amazing, Jasper," she whispered.

Jasper grinned blindingly and winked. "See you then," he remarked, before going off.

Emmett reached over and patted Alice on the head – nearly knocking over my coffee as he did so. "Aw, little Alice got a date with Jazzy boy," he said in a babyish voice. She shot him a defensive glare and the pixie hunched her shoulders and looked down at her coffee as if she weren't thirsty for it anymore. Emmett chortled with laughter and gulped down some more of his coffee.

I sipped on my coffee again.

"Bella, thank you," Alice said quietly. I turned my head to look at her, and she was smiling at me so joyfully it was infectious. I smiled back. "I probably would have totally screwed that up if you hadn't have stepped in. Thanks so much."

"No problem," I answered. "I didn't like the idea of you passing up some time with Jasper just for me."

Alice gigged. "No offense, Bella, I love you to death, but I don't like that idea that much either," she snickered.

I raised my eyebrows at her. It was amazing how natural it was to tease each other after only a day of knowing each other. "What are you implying, Alice? An afternoon with me isn't cool?"

Alice laughed and threw her arms around me, which was an odd position for a girl sitting in a chair. Emmett snickered at us, and I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Go find Rosalie," Alice shot at him playfully. "I don't want to hear your chortling any more, you big loaf." Emmett laughed again before getting up and out of his chair and throwing the rest of his coffee down his throat. He winked at us before heading back up the stairs.

I was still trying to push her away. I wasn't one for hugs, especially with chaperones looking on with skeptical eyes. "Alice, there are parents around…" I told her quietly, and gently set her upright in her own chair. I had no idea that Jasper had this kind of effect on her. I might have to start thinking about only giving her mild doses of his presence.

"Oh, sorry." Alice still had red on her cheeks, and she sipped her coffee. "Are you sure you'll be alright without me, though?" I was touched – the little pixie-like girl actually cared for my well-being.

"I'm pretty sure there will be someone around for me to hang out with," I reassured her with a gentle pat to her arm. "I know where Josie and Clorissa are rooming, and I have an idea as to where Audrey will be this afternoon. I'll be in good company. Don't worry about me." I always found something to do no matter whom I was with, even if I was by myself, I added silently.

"That's good," Alice sighed. She tugged at her short locks of black hair that I supposed was her equivalent of running her fingers through her hair. "I don't know what I'm going to wear!" she suddenly moaned, suddenly looking panicked.

I laughed. "Alice, it's only ten. Lunch isn't until noon, and the walk isn't until afterwards, remember?" I reminded her.

She shot me a defensive look. "Getting ready takes longer than you think!" she shot at me. "Believe me, it does. Getting the right outfit to look good on you and applying the correct amount of makeup is so much more complicated than the professionals make it look. We'd better get started." She shot up out of her seat with her coffee and grabbed my hand.

My coffee nearly spilled as I stumbled to my feet, and I took a quick sip of it before Alice dragged me off back up the stairs and out the door into the already humid summer morning air. By the time we had scampered back to the dorms, I was already sweating and my skin was flushed read in the heat. The cool air conditioning of the indoors hit me like a ton of bricks as Alice dragged me up the stairs. I stumbled once or twice on the way, causing Alice to complain and whine every time that I did.

As soon as we got to our room, Alice shut the door and ran to our closet. Like a cartoon character jumping into a pile of leaves or snow, she dove right in and began rummaging through her clothes like a madwoman. She muttered about what was in and what looked totally 'out', and was desperately going through clothes like the world was ending in five minutes. It was really funny to watch.

It was then that I decided to check my e-mail on my laptop.

I pulled it out and set it up, waiting restlessly for it to turn on. As I waited, I listened to Alice's rustling clothes and melodic voice as she looked for a proper outfit. I wondered if the closet resembled a bombed building – with the way she was discarding clothes so quickly.

The laptop sang its little song as it opened up onto my main screen, which was a huge picture of my mom, her husband Phil, and me. I smiled as I clicked on the Internet icon and brought up my inbox.

I had five new messages. Two were from random people I didn't know, and I deleted them and sent the e-mails to my spam folder. The other three were from people who wanted to know how I was doing. One from Renee, one from Charlie, and one from Angela. I clicked on the one from Charlie first. He wasn't one for sending e-mails, but since I had made it clear that I wasn't taking my cell phone, he had grudgingly agreed to use a computer to talk to me. Renee was always for computer chat, and Angela probably had tried calling my cell first and then, discovering that was no way to get a hold of me, e-mailed me.

_Hey Bells. Just want to know how you got settled in. Dad._

No, Charlie definitely wasn't one for sending e-mails. I smiled to myself as I typed out an answer.

_I'm doing fine, Dad. I have a really nice roommate and we're having lots of fun. Love you. Bella._

Sending that out, I clicked on the one from Renee. The last time I had seen her had been at the airport in Phoenix, when she was sending me here to Indiana for some time with Charlie. The last time we had talked was on my car ride to the school from which we departed to band camp, when I had been sitting with a quiet Charlie who didn't say one word to me while I was on the phone with my mother.

_Bella! Oh my God, I've been wanting to talk to you so badly. Why don't you ever have your cell phone? Every time I've tried to call you I get your voice mail. And then I called Charlie and he said that you'd gone off to band camp. I was so worried about you! Don't ever do that to me again. Anyway, I wanted to tell you that Phil says hi, and he's thinking about getting us a dog, or a cat! Isn't that exciting? How is life with your new band? Are you making lots of friends? I bet you are. E-mail me as soon as you get this, or so help me I'll call Charlie again. Bye! Mom. _

I chuckled lightly to myself as I typed an answer, telling her basically the same thing I had told Charlie. I was doing fine, and that I had made a lot of new friends. I listed all of them by name, so my mother could get in on the details. Unlike my dad, she was horribly nosy and wanted to know everything. Then, almost reluctantly, I clicked the link to Angela's e-mail. I wasn't sure if I wanted to know what was happening in Phoenix or not.

_Hey, Bella. It's Angela. The others haven't really said much about you since you left, but I want to know how you're doing. I don't want to seem nosy or anything. Jake says hi, and I guess I say hi too. Tell me how your new band is. I bet anywhere's better than here. Angela._

Then I smiled. Angela was always nice to me, and I think that I was going to miss her. So I typed out a response to her, saying that life was good and that my new band was great. I told her to respond to Jake's hi for me.

"Whatcha doing?" came a voice from behind me.

I whipped my head around to see Josie right behind me (I was sleeping on a lower bunk), with Sarah, Abby, and Clorissa not far off behind her. She was grinning at my bewildered and frightened expression. She let out a small laugh.

"Sorry," she said apologetically. "We saw the door closed, and it wasn't locked, and we decided to see if you were still alive. It looks like Alice has the clothing fever. What'd you to do to get her on the fritz?"

"I've never seen her this crazy," Clorissa commented from the doorway.

"What happened?" Abby asked with concern in her sapphire blue eyes.

"Jasper asked me on a walk this afternoon," Alice blabbed, rushing out from the closet. She looked almost comical with two pairs of jean shorts draped over one of her arms and about ten blouses and t-shirts draped over her other arm. She looked frantic. "I'm trying to find what to wear. Oh God, Jasper's going to think I'm a thoughtless creature who doesn't put any thought into what she wears," she wailed as she went back into the closet.

I saw Sarah smirking as she, Abby, and Clorissa stepped into the room. "We'll help you Alice," she offered.

"Thanks," came Alice's tinkling voice from inside the closet. "Those of you with fashion sense step inside. Those without it, keep out of the closet."

Josie remained outside with me. When I sent her an inquisitive look, her expression twisted into one of complete bemusement. "I hate picking outfits out. Believe me, I suck at it. Fashion isn't my thing."

The rest of the morning was spent finding Alice an outfit, and combing her hair meticulously well. Theresa and Emily came to join us later on, reporting that Audrey was completely absorbed in her Angel thing (I had no idea what that was), and Slinky was with her. We didn't even need to know what Rosalie and Emmett were probably doing right now. But I didn't think that life here was ever going to get boring.

* * *

EOC: Well, that's it this time around, guys. Theresa and Emily are in it a lot next chapter, I assure you. Considering as they weren't really in it at all this time. I'm going to Audrey's birthday party this weekend, so I'll write whenever I can. And also since I have a new FanFic up… well, yeah. I love you all, and special thanks to LibbyCullen for reviewing my story! I didn't expect anyone from outside our marching band to like it. Thanks! Out and over; Josie/Dark and Wild.


	4. Chapter 4

Yay, everyone. I finally got the new chapter up and running! It was tech week (for theater at school), and most of you know how long those hours can be. Hoorah to the show! XP Anyways, please enjoy this chapter, because this one is better than the last. Maybe because there's more Edward… and drama. And Alice and Jasper. And the rest of us. Of course. Enjoy!

**Chapter 4: Parties Are For Animals**

The afternoon was spent in a reasonably slow, tantalizing manner. Alice went on her walk with Jasper and didn't return for a very long time. So Josie and Theresa took me to Audrey's room, where I discovered the meaning of the T.V show, 'Angel'. It wasn't bad, but I wasn't as into it as the others seemed to be.

When dinnertime rolled around, Alice still hadn't returned. I was a little worried, but the others didn't seemed to concerned, which relaxed me a little bit. When I asked Emily, the other junior explained that Jasper was a good guy, and that he wouldn't do anything horrible to Alice while they were out on a walk. I took her advice and stopped worrying so much, and so we all headed out to dinner together.

Audrey was talking to Slinky and Josie about something they had all watched on Angel on the way over to dinner, as Theresa, Emily, Sarah, Abby, Clorissa, and I discussed what might happen at dinner tonight.

"I wonder if the pretty kids will talk to you tonight?" Clorissa was wondering out loud. "That'd be an interesting show down."

"You'd have our back," Theresa pointed out cheerfully.

"Seth might talk to you," Sarah then remarked. "He's not so bad a guy, and sometimes he's the spokesperson, but… Edward is the one who normally does the talking." Her voice went bitter at the mention of Edward, and I sighed internally. So Sarah still had hard feelings about the dance thing Josie had told me about at band practice last night. I felt so sorry for her.

"Believe me though, you don't want Leah on your tail. She'll bite your head off, literally," Emily said knowingly.

"She's kind of mean," Abby agreed.

"Who're we talking about now?" came an extremely familiar pixyish voice that we all knew so well. All of us turned to see Alice, who looked as happy as could be, arm in arm with Jasper Hale. He looked pleased with himself too, and he couldn't stop looking at Alice like he had never seen anything like her before.

"Alice!" Josie squealed, and skipped brightly around the pair of them – since it looked just about impossible to hug either of them. "You're back!"

Alice let out her tinkling laugh and smiled. "Yes, I'm back. And Jasper was wondering if he could sit with us tonight at dinner," she informed everyone. All of us exchanged glances and agreed enthusiastically – even though our table would probably be stuffed tonight. "And the rumors have been confirmed. There's a party tonight, and _all _of you are coming." With this comment, she fixed me in a firm look that told me that there was no way I'd get out of going tonight. Crud.

"Yeah, Josie. That includes you!" Sarah proclaimed, pointing her finger at the clarinet player in a threatening manner.

Josie stuck her tongue out. "I know, I know," she admitted grudgingly.

So I wasn't the only one who wasn't fond of parties. That cheered me up a little.

We went into the cafeteria and got our food just like we had last night. Alice sat beside me again, and Jasper sat beside her. On my other side was Audrey this time, who was still deep in conversation with Slinky about something funny that happened on Angel during a part I obviously hadn't been paying attention.

"So. Jasper." It was Theresa who started this conversation, fixing Alice's new companion in an observing look. She seemed to watch every move he made, and I felt sorry to the tall saxophone player. I never realized how intimidating Theresa could be sometimes. "Are you going out with Alice now?"

Alice blushed at this topic, and looked down at her tray and began picking at her vegetables. Jasper smiled, ignoring Alice's uncomfortable-ness about it. "I guess you could say that," he replied confidently.

Instead of cheering Theresa, this only made the junior narrow her eyes. "You do know that if you hurt her in any way, you will suffer the wrath of the clarinets? I'll kick your ass, Jasper, and I'm not afraid to do it, either," she warned him boldly. Alice's face turned a tickle-me pink as she stared down at her plate. She wasn't one to be embarrassed, so I lightly touched her arm to let her know that I was here. She smiled thankfully at me.

"And I'll knee you in a place where it hurts!" Josie piped up. "You can ask some of the guys at school. I do it pretty hard."

"That's not all," Slinky then said. "Emmett will break your arms! And then I'll kick you in the knee. It hurts, too." She nodded firmly as if that had been the worst threat she had ever made to anybody.

Jasper seemed unbothered by all these threats. "Believe me. I don't ever want to hurt Alice – ever. I've liked her for a very long time, and now I can get to love her. I know Edward had screwed your guys' opinion of me…" His eyes flickered to Sarah for a brief moment, whose face went a shade darker. "But I'm nothing like him."

Everyone seemed relieved by this.

"Then welcome to the family, Jasper!" Emily exclaimed. "Though I will admit this family is a little crazy." She let out a laugh and we all joined in.

I remained silent for the rest of the conversation. Edward had just walked in with the kids Seth and Leah, and his eyes seemed to go to me for a second. His hypnotizing green eyes bore into mine for the longest of seconds, and I could read several emotions in his eyes. Anger, frustration, confusion… it was all there. I managed to return the stare, melting inside, and then I was thankfully rescued by Emmett and Rosalie's arrival.

"Whoa, Jazz, you're sitting with us now?" the huge tuba player asked as he and his girlfriend took seats at the table. "What happened? Edward throw you out of the group or something?"

Jasper shook his head. He placed his hand over Alice's, and Emmett understood immediately. He snickered and dug into his French fries without another word. Alice glared at him, but Jasper just chuckled and patted her hand before beginning to eat. We all laughed again.

Dinner seemed to pass in a blur, with conversations that were casual and easy. When it finally came time after desert to separate and get ready for the party tonight, Alice practically dragged me out of the building after saying 'goodbye' to Jasper with her lips. It was obvious they'd already shared their first kiss (Theresa wolf-whistled when she saw them kissing; Alice had blushed and Jasper had laughed). She complained all the way to my room that I had absolutely nothing to wear for the party.

"I looked through your wardrobe, and it's horrible," Alice was commenting as she shoved our door open and marched inside. I stumbled in after her, utterly bewildered. She'd gone through my wardrobe? When had she managed to do that? It obviously didn't matter, because she threw a pair of shorts at me, and a hyacinth blue halter-top. "Put those on." When I opened my mouth to protest, she glared at me sternly. "And don't complain about it. I am not taking you to a smoking hot party if you don't look smoking hot. Now put them on. I won't look." To prove her point, she turned away and went into the closet and shut the door behind her.

I sighed, looking down at the outfit she had given me. I decided that it was no use to revolt, so I just stripped down to my underwear and bra and put on this new outfit. It wasn't until after I had pulled the halter top down over my stomach that Alice came out of the closet. It was like she had known when I would finish dressing. Strange.

"Good. Now sit down on that bed. I have to do your hair and makeup," Alice stated. She too had changed into a set of light denim shorts and a black spaghetti-strap top.

"Uh… aren't you going a bit overboard with this?" I asked as I sat down as she had instructed.

Alice rolled her eyes as she rummaged through her bag for makeup supplies and a brush. "Bella, nothing in fashion is overboard. I'm doing just what's needed. Who knows, you might find your lucky man tonight." She winked at me and chuckled lightly to herself as she pulled out her 'tools'.

When she had seated herself behind me and began brushing through my hair, I sighed. "Alice, do you honestly think that some guy is going to like me?" I questioned.

I felt Alice shrug. "Well, why wouldn't a guy like you? You're pretty, smart, and brave to stand up to a jerk like Edward," she told me with assurance in her voice. "Come on, guys here dig that. And when I'm through with you, you're going to look more gorgeous than an actress on the red carpet. Believe me Bella, you're going to look simply awesome. Don't worry about it."

"'Kay," I answered. I highly doubted what she had said was true, because there never really was a guy that I'd been attracted to, even though he might have been attracted to me. The closest person like that was Jacob, but we were just friends. We always would be. Edward Cullen was the only guy that I'd thought was reasonably cute. And apparently, according to the girls I hanged out with, he was off-limits if I wanted to keep my life. Friends were more important than getting a boyfriend. I had that much common sense, at least.

"Perfect!" Alice exclaimed. She jumped off the bed, nearly giving me a heart attack as she gave me a quick look over. "All you need is some eye liner and blush and you are going to be so beautiful, not even Brad Pitt will be able to resist you!"

"Ew, Brad Pitt?" I asked.

"Please, just a figure of speech, Bella," Alice reassured me as she rolled her eyes. She began applying blush, so I had to close my eyes. "We all know Brad Pitt is ugly. Like I said, just a figure of speech…" Her voice trailed off as she concentrated. After a few minutes of more makeup applying, she grinned. "Now you're perpetually beautiful, Bella. We can head down in a second. Just let me put some makeup on myself."

As if she needed it – she was already painfully beautiful without the makeup.

When she finished, the little pixie took my hand and opened up the door to our room. Waiting outside were Rosalie and Theresa. Rosalie was breathtakingly beautiful, and I was beginning to wonder if we weren't going to prom. Theresa looked a little uncomfortable, wearing nice jeans and a button-up shirt like she wasn't sure if her life was going to last through tonight.

"Ready to go?" Rosalie asked confidently, with a pretty smile. Alice nodded enthusiastically and looked at me with her bright, green eyes. I shrugged nonchalantly.

"Bella, you can't have that attitude, or nobody is going to get along with you," Alice chirped sternly.

"I'll get along with you just fine," Theresa muttered in my ear as we began descending the stairs. "I hate parties like this. With a passion."

"Then why are you going?" I asked.

"Will," she grumbled.

Alice giggled. "Theresa, he won't be able to resist you. Come on, and stop complaining. You'll be fine." She turned her head to talk to Rosalie.

"Who's Will?" I inquired.

"Oh, only the guy Theresa has been fantasizing about for the past year," came a cheerful voice from behind us. Audrey was descending the steps behind us with Slinky in tow. She grinned playfully at Theresa, who snorted and rolled her eyes.

"I haven't been fantasizing about him," Theresa mumbled grudgingly. "I just have a crush on him – that's all."

"This year is his last year though! He's a senior!" Slinky piped up. "It's your last chance."

"I know. I have another three weekends after this one. Stop worrying so much, guys," Theresa muttered. "If I ask him to dance tonight, don't embarrass me, please."

"Oh, like shout your name as soon as we see you two on the dance floor?" Slinky asked. "Or wolf-whistle and scream?"

"No," Theresa told her firmly.

Slinky looked crestfallen, and she sighed. "But I like to wolf-whistle and scream," she said quietly. We all laughed in response to that. By then, we'd reached the bottom of the staircase.

"Here we go," Alice murmured, sounding more excited than ever. She pushed open the door into the commons, and all I could do was stare.

The party had already started. People were bouncing together in what looked like the mob of death for me. The lights were toned down, so it was a little dark inside, and bright colored lights were flashing around from a disco ball that someone must have attached to the ceiling of the room. One of the band kids was playing DJ, with an iPod on his table and huge speakers attached to it. There were plenty of people sitting and standing off to the side, drinking punch or eating pizza. It looked like a death trap. I couldn't believe that I had agreed to actually come to this.

"Let's find Jasper," Alice said, grabbing my hand and dragging me into the fray. I prayed that I wouldn't cause anyone's death tonight.

"Jazz!" Alice cried after about thirty seconds. I had tripped over three people at least, all of them sending me deathly glares. "There you are! How's the party?"

"As bright and bouncing as it'll ever be," the tall saxophone commented. He was standing by one of the front tables, a cup of punch in his hand. He smiled at Alice and I. "Hey, Bella," he greeted me. I smiled and looked behind me to see if any of my other friends were behind us. They weren't. I could only vaguely see Theresa, Rosalie, Slinky, and Audrey through the thick crowd of dancing maniacs.

"Hi, Jasper," I answered.

"Jazz, what's up?" the black-haired boy (I remembered that he was Seth), said as he strolled up, a very recognizable figure behind him. I narrowed my eyes at Edward, who simply ignored my presence. Alice's shoulders stiffened as she refused to acknowledge her brother.

"Nothing out of the ordinary. What are you guys doing here?' Jasper asked.

Seth let out a cheerful laugh. "You kidding me? What's a party without Seth Clearwater and Edward Cullen, huh? I'll tell you. It's no party at all. Seen my sister anywhere?"

"Nope. I think she's sleeping this one out," Jasper replied. He looked at Alice, who looked right back with a cheerful expression and smiled brightly. The attraction between them was almost sickening, but it was so cute that it was hard to look away. Suddenly a desire to have someone like Alice had Jasper appeared in the pit of my stomach, and I sighed.

"Bella, you okay?" Alice asked, suddenly concerned.

"Hm?" I replied, looking at her dully. "Oh, no, I'm fine. Parties just aren't my thing, you know?"

Alice sighed, shaking her head. "Bella, my mission won't succeed if you're not an active participant. Come on, you have to be somewhat excited to be here, right?"

"Not really."

Alice scowled at me and snorted. "Fine, then," she chuckled, glancing back at Jasper. "Go be a boring jerk and go back up to our room. That wonderful outfit of yours completely went to waste. Or find Josie. I bet she's being a party pooper too."

I laughed. I remembered Josie's sour attitude about the party before dinner.

Then, I turned away from them and walked away – _around _the crowd of crazy, punch-drinking teenagers. I tripped over a chair on the way back to the door and almost crashed into another dancing couple before I felt someone's hands on my arms, holding me steady. I turned to see who it was, and froze.

Edward Cullen was gazing at me with some kind of smug smile on his face. I scowled, completely forgetting where I was.

"What do you want?" I demanded.

Edward frowned, folding his arms tightly across his chest. "I just wanted to talk to you about something," he said frostily. "Is that illegal too?"

I sighed. "No, it's not," I admitted. I wasn't about to order him around, even if I had meant what I said to him this morning. "But what do you want to talk about, and isn't this not really the best place to be talking? It's too insane to think clearly."

Edward smiled, and I felt my heart skip a beat. He was so gorgeous, and yet he was such an imbecile.

"Bella!" Suddenly Slinky was beside me. "Theresa is dancing with Will! She told me not to scream and shout so I came to you to tell you because I'm so excited and Audrey wanted to go watch Angel again. But isn't that great? Rosalie went to go find Emmett because she wanted to slow dance with him and I think I saw Alice and Jasper dancing…" She sighed. "Isn't it awesome?"

I smiled at the little tuba's excitement. It was infectious. "Yeah, that's great," I told her. I could feel Edward's piercing eyes on the back of my head. "I'm heading back up to my room too. Parties just aren't for me. I'll see you later, kay?"

Slinky looked a little downtrodden at my announcement, and sighed. "Oh, okay," she said. "Then I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then. Bye!" And she was gone in the midst of the dancing teens.

"What do you mean, parties aren't for you? Why are you here, and why are you dressed like that if you don't like them?" Edward asked as soon as I had extracted myself from the dance room into the hallway. He had followed me. I glared at him, but decided not to deny him an answer.

"Alice," I explained.

He nodded, and looked down at his feet. "I, er, wanted to speak with you about what you said to me this morning," he said quietly. "I would like to know what it is about me that frustrates you. I would like you to explain what you said." His green eyes went to my face again, and I sighed impatiently. Was he really that dense, that he couldn't figure this out?

"I thought I was clear enough. You can't treat girls the way you do. If you ever want to go out with someone, you have to be at least a little nice to them. You can't use them like tools. Girls have feelings, and we can act on them quicker than you can say 'Crap'. I'll admit it's normally the boy that can turn into the murderer, but girls can turn out to be real psychos if you don't treat them right," I told him. "You frustrate me because you're the spitting image of my exact opposite. And that bull about 'opposites attract' doesn't work with me. Good night."

I turned to head up the stairs, but he grabbed my arm. I tried to jerk it out of his grip, but he held on tightly. "What is your problem? Let me go," I snapped.

"I want you to tell me what I can do to change that," Edward said, sounding sincere. "I don't want people to see me as a monster."

I scowled, folding my arms tightly across my chest. "Oh?" I demanded of him. "And since when have you been interested in stuff like that? I don't see you asking Alice for this kind of advice. You need to patch things up with her, rather than demand of me to fix your problems."

Edward winced and looked away from me, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "I don't like arguing with my little sister," he said quietly. "But she won't tell me what I need to hear."

"And what do you need to hear?" I asked sharply.

"I don't know…" he said, his voice trailing off. His green eyes went to me, and I shook my head. I wasn't going to give him the sympathy he wanted. I barely knew him, and from that I did know of him, he was a complete loser.

"Look, just leave me alone," I told him before hurrying up the stairs to the girls' dorms. He didn't follow this time, and for that I was grateful.

The hallways were practically deserted when I got up there. I assumed most of the girls were down at the party. I almost felt kind of bad, disappointing Alice like that. But I didn't need a guy to keep me happy, even though she was intent on getting me one. The only guy I was attracted to in this band in _that _way was a complete loser who treated girls like trash. I didn't need someone like him in my life.

I thought about this as I let myself into my room and tossed my lanyard onto the table. I needed to get to bed and clear my head. I didn't want to think about boys anymore. I wanted to focus on marching. So I pulled on my pajamas and sighed, climbing up onto my bed and curling up underneath the covers. It was warm, and I sighed. Tomorrow was another weekend day. Hopefully not another party. I closed my eyes, wanting to escape from the world, even if it was just for eight or so hours.

* * *

EOC: Sorry this chapter is so much shorter than the others. Tech week takes a lot out of you, especially since I haven't updated in like two weeks. Sorry for the wait, guys. Also, I'd like to announce that I'm starting a new FanFiction (yes, another one), so this one's production might go a bit slower for the next couple of chapters. But keep in mind this one and Three Wrongs Make A Right are still my top priorities. Thanks for the patience, guys, and I hope you enjoyed it. Dark and Wild/Josie, out.


	5. Chapter 5

Um… okay. So this chapter took a long time because I'm a lazy bum and I lost the muse for this story. She ran off somewhere, and recently came back with some Coney Island hat. Muses do that to me sometimes. But typically they go off to Myrtle Beach… hm… why Coney Island? Anyways, enough excuses on my part. I do **not **own the Twilight franchise, and here is the next chapter in Listen to the Band ! Y'all had better enjoy this too.

**Chapter 5: A Not-So Holy Sunday**

Sunday morning came and went. We went to church (I had recently forgotten that this high school was a Catholic one), and came back around eleven and went to lunch. At lunch, we were in for a major surprise.

Edward Cullen came to sit at our table. Needless to say, this caused all around tension (maybe just simple dumbfounded surprise in some cases).

Alice, Audrey, Slinky, and I were just beginning our lunches when Edward Cullen began approaching our table with a hesitant expression on his face. Jasper had taken a seat near Alice, and the only open chair was the one next to me. Josie sat two seats away, next to Abby. Sarah sat next to her, beside Theresa and Emily. Rosalie and Emmett were off on their own – probably getting takeout or something somewhere else on campus. Since they were both seniors, it was allowed.

"Player alert," I heard Josie grumble just as Edward was passing our table.

"Mind if I join you?" came his musical velvet voice from behind me. I tensed, and everyone stared with their mouths dropping wide open. A lot of them exchanged shocked and bewildered glances and it was obvious that they didn't understand what was going on.

And quite honestly, I didn't either.

"Edward, have you lost your mind?" Alice demanded from Jasper's side. A few mumbles went around the table in agreement.

"No, I haven't," Edward announced clearly. "I was thinking that perhaps I could sit with my sister and her friends today. Is that a crime nowadays?" He frowned and began turning away.

"Edward, wait," Alice said. She let out a sigh, and looked around at all the people at our table. Some, like Josie, Slinky and Audrey, looked simply bewildered. Some, like Abby and Sarah, looked downright livid. And the others, like Emily, Theresa, and I, looked neutral. Though they all didn't really like the mallet player, they didn't hold grudges like some of the people at the table.

"Yes?" He turned his head.

Alice sighed, running her fingers through her short, inky black hair. "You can sit here." She looked around at the other people at our table, checking to see if this would prove to be a problem. "I hope you know everyone."

Edward looked relieved, furthering confusing us already bewildered people, and took the seat in between Josie and I. He looked around the table at all of the faces (though some looked away when his eyes met theirs), and frowned slightly. "I must admit I don't remember some of the names."

Alice and I exchanged a glance, and Alice began introducing everyone as if it were Edward's first day. "I think you know Sarah and Abby… and Bella," she said, and Sarah hunched her shoulders and began picking at her food. Edward looked at her apologetically for a moment, but when it became clear that she was ignoring him, he looked away to smile at me hesitantly. For some reason, I returned it. Abby just glared at him and tried to put her arm around her friend's shoulders, but Sarah shrugged her off angrily.

"You definitely know Jasper." Edward and Jasper shared a friendly glance. "But otherwise, I guess we'll start fresh. This is Theresa, Emily, and Josie. They're all clarinet players." The three mentioned either looked or smiled at Edward tentatively before fiddling with their silverware again. "This is Audrey, and she's a flute – that's Clorissa… she's a flute too." Audrey actually gave a small half-hearted wave, and Clorissa just stared blankly. "And this here is Slinky. Her name is Stefanie but… we call her Slinky. She's a tuba." Slinky grinned and waved as if there was nothing going on in the world.

Edward smiled at each of the ones mentioned, and I wondered if he really even had a chance at fitting in here. According to what he had said to me last night, he was intent on changing his ways. Was this his way of showing that he really meant it?

"Why are you sitting here?" asked Clorissa, her eyes briefly going to Sarah and Abby before her gaze returned to Edward. "You always sit with Leah and Seth. What's with the change?"

"It was a change of heart," Edward stated, looking Clorissa in the eye as he answered her. "I had a discussion with Bella here that has changed the way I see things. I think I want to start this new way of life with all of you – it only seemed fitting since I've wronged some of you."

Everyone's eyes went to me, and I felt like shrinking in my seat. The attention wasn't something I really liked – especially the dagger-like glares I was getting from Sarah and Abby. I didn't want them angry with me, when we were just starting to be friends. It didn't seem right. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, and Alice saved me from the looks.

"I guess that's a good thing," Alice remarked. She sounded a bit happier, as if this news of Edward's pleased her.

It seemed to please everyone else at the table but Sarah and Abby, and I had the feeling neither of them would be spending much more time here at the lunch table with Edward around. Sure enough, a few seconds later – right when Edward was about to say something in reply to Alice's comment – Sarah stood up from her seat and Abby quickly followed suit as if it were the natural thing to do.

"We'll be in our room. See you guys later," Sarah mumbled before bustling off.

The table was silent for a few moments, nobody saying a word.

"Well, I agree with Alice," Theresa declared, even though she looked a little uneasy about Sarah and Abby's sudden disappearance. "This is a good thing. I don't think it's right to say this yet, but welcome to the family."

"Thank you, Theresa," Edward answered dutifully.

"Keep in mind you still have to prove yourself to us," Josie declared alongside Theresa, looking at Edward sharply as if she were observing a lab rat. "I don't know how, but you've got a long way to go before you're really accepted here."

"I still don't get why you make the effort," Clorissa grumbled. Audrey nodded in agreement and began eating away at her food.

For some reason, I was really happy that Edward had chosen this. It was almost symbolic, though of what I didn't know. I was pretty sure it had something to do with how my words had had that effect on him, and he was acting on his mistakes because I had advised him to. But there was something more, underneath that feeling of pride that I couldn't place. It was like a bubbly feeling, like butterflies. I didn't understand it.

"Bella, are you okay?" Alice asked, her green eyes on me. "You don't look so good."

"Hm? Oh, just thinking," I answered. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize for thinking," Alice said, rolling her eyes. Jasper chuckled and took a bite of some of his food with a smile on his face. "It just looked like you would injure yourself doing it, like Slinky does sometimes."

"Hey!" Slinky protested, and we all laughed to that.

"Is it always like this?" Edward questioned, his eyes still bright with laughter. "Do you all abuse each other in this way?"

"Are you kidding me?" Josie was looking at him like he was crazy, but there was a lighthearted smile on her face. "They abuse me constantly. It's worse when you're the victim."

"I don't tease you," Audrey pointed out.

"I don't either," protested Emily.

"True, true," Josie replied, smiling slightly. "I never said everyone did. Just a few certain individuals." She meaningfully narrowed her eyes at Clorissa and everyone let out a few chuckles. It was almost natural to have Edward here, enjoying this humor with me. Like I had thought before, I simply couldn't explain it.

Slinky began picking at her French fries with boredom, and then she brightened. "I know! Tuesday night is pool night!" she exclaimed with bright brown eyes. She shook some of her blond hair away from her face and grinned. "You can come with us, Edward! I'm sure you'll have lots of fun! I always do." She chomped away some more at her lunch as Audrey laughed at something Slinky had said.

"Like that one time you jumped off the diving board?" Audrey teased.

"More like ran to the edge of the board and slipped," Theresa added, chuckling good-naturedly. I smiled, and picturing Slinky falling off the diving board was not that hard to think of.

"Very funny," Slinky retorted, but a smile was still on her face as she continued eating her food.

Out of mere curiosity, I glanced out of the corner of my eye towards Edward. He was observing everyone with a concentrated face, like he was trying to determine them for what they were. There was a gleam in his eye that I had never seen before, and he looked like he was enjoying himself, watching their playful banter. I knew that I did.

"Hey, Bella." Josie was calling me now, the look on her face curious. "I was wondering if you want to hang out with Clorissa and I after dinner tonight. We like to play volleyball before we go to bed on the weekends, and I thought maybe you could come along tonight."

I laughed at the thought, and Josie and Clorissa looked at me in bewilderment. Edward turned his attention to me now too, and I felt my cheeks getting hot for attracting this attention to myself.

"I can't play volleyball," I told them.

"I can't either," Josie agreed with a smile. "Every time I try to hit the ball, something goes wrong."

"You got that right. I still haven't forgiven you for that time you hit the ball and said ball hit me in the side of the head," declared Theresa, and we all laughed at the picture it formed in our heads. Theresa, yelling at Josie and chasing her around the volleyball courts as Josie cried for help… it was almost too realistic for us to imagine. "So if you do play tonight, make sure to remind me to stay away from the volleyball courts," Theresa added.

"I didn't mean it like that," I now informed Josie. "I mean I can't play because I'll probably trip and fall doing something stupid. I'm not exactly… graceful." My cheeks burned again at having to admit that.

"I see what you mean," Clorissa said. Then she grinned at Josie. "Looks like it'll be just you and me, Josie. Time to get your butt schooled again. Would anyone like to come see it?"

"I'll come watch," Audrey volunteered. "Just make sure you don't hit me in the head with a ball, okay?" We all laughed again.

It was so peaceful, and I wished life could be like this all the time. Though Sarah and Abby's absence was a bit of a shadow over this, I couldn't help but feel happy. It was like it was all because Edward had come to sit with us – or, more importantly, had come to sit by me. I could feel Alice's appraising eyes on me the entire time, deciphering every movement I made with a critical eye. Jasper didn't seem to notice, since he was observing the rest of the table like Edward was. They were both new, as was I, to these band kids' lifestyles.

Lunch was slow, but conversation was plenty and everyone enjoyed it. Alice and Jasper left to go on another walk when we were all finished, and a lot of the kids went back to the dorms to hang out. Josie, Clorissa, Audrey, and Slinky all went back to watch a movie on Audrey's DVD player – I hadn't been paying attention when Audrey had announced what movie they would be watching.

Theresa and Emily were left with Edward and me, and Edward didn't show any signs of wanting to leave. It made me feel a little uncomfortable, especially when he offered to buy us all drinks down in the café downstairs. Theresa and Emily were enthralled by the idea, and for some reason I was a little glad that they were accepting him so easily. (The idea of free food and drink probably just appealed to them just like it appealed to any other person.)

When he turned to me for approval, I blinked. "Uh… sure, I guess," I said. This was the second or third time someone had bought me something – in fact, I don't even think the twenty dollars I had brought with me had even been touched yet.

Edward looked pleased, and headed down into the café with Theresa, Emily, and I in tow. I put my hands in my jean short pockets and looked around. Everything looked the same as it did yesterday. There were kids on the computers, a few playing pool, and a parent or two sitting around the television not paying attention at all like they were supposed to be doing. A bomb could probably go off and they wouldn't notice.

"What do you guys want?" Edward asked as he pulled out a wallet from his back pocket.

"Just a Cool Joe's Soda," Theresa answered, looking up at the menu. "I'm not really in the mood for a cappuccino or coffee right now."

"I'll take the same thing," Emily added.

It took me a moment to locate the least pricey thing on the menu, though by common sense I probably should have figured it out. "I'll just have a bottle of water," I said blandly.

"That only costs a dollar," Edward told me.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious. I can see the menu just as well as you can," I shot back with a small smile on my face. It was easy to joke with him – a lot easier than I had imagined. "A bottle of water," I repeated with more force in my tone, and I raised my eyebrow at him, daring him to challenge me. By the look on his face, he knew better than to do so. He knew how I became when I got riled up.

He paid for the drinks and of course mine came right away. I grabbed it from the counter before he had a chance to touch it, and he frowned at me in disapproval. I ignored it and snapped open the cap to my water and took a gulp.

"So Bella," Theresa began, obviously uncomfortable with the silence settling between the four of us. "What do you think of the band so far?"

I paused to think about this. "I think this is great. The band is full of some really nice and cool people. I like this better than my band in Phoenix. Though I must admit, the humidity is getting to me," I answered after I swallowed my water. I was also quite aware that Edward seemed to be paying attention to every word I said.

"Yeah, this place as a tendency to do that to you," Emily said. "I think this is one of the few states where the temperature is actually twenty degrees higher than actually accounted for." We laughed at that, even Edward.

"Wait until we go to Orlando this year," Theresa told her brightly.

"Orlando? As in Orlando, Florida?" I demanded.

Theresa and Emily exchanged a cheerful glance. Edward looked pretty smug too, so he must have known what was going on. Theresa, however, was the one to explain it to me.

"Well, the band takes soem kind of trip trip every year. There's kind of like a cycle that's a bit too complicated for me to explain right now. But this year we're headed to Orlando in March. We're going to Disney World," she informed me brightly. "Keep in mind we're not supposed to be there for all fun. We have to do _some_ marching or the school would never let us go during the school year."

"Wait, wait, wait. You mean we actually get to skip some days of school to go to Disney World?" I asked.

"Only a few days." It was Edward who told me this. "The most we've ever missed was three."

"Yeah, it totally sucks," Emily said. When the three of us looked at her as if she were insane, she thought it would be good to edit her meaning. "I mean, I wish we could miss more school."

We all nodded in understanding and settled into a booth.

We sat there for about a half-an-hour, talking and taking swigs out of our drinks. I found out a lot of things, like how Emily and Theresa had been good friends ever since freshman year, and they also all taught some of the classic band cheers that we would be using tomorrow morning to warm up in the morning. Edward also told us about the music he had received and what he thought of it, and we shared our opinions too. He seemed to cling onto every word I said whenever I spoke, and it was almost a relief when Emily announced that she had to get back to her room to check on her ankle – which she told us acted out from time to time.

Edward agreed to come with us, and we walked back to the dorms. When we got there we found Josie playing cards with two kids I hadn't been introduced to yet. One was wearing a baseball cap, and it appeared to be a girl. The other was a boy with short blond hair.

"Jesus Christ!" Josie exclaimed as she threw down her hand of cards.

"Where?" demanded the girl, and she looked around madly. Edward laughed and stole her hat, snatching it from her head with acute skill. The girl squealed and turned around to snatch it out of his hands.

"Hey Grace," Edward greeted her with a snicker, and tossed her hat back to her. "Bella, this is Grace. She's in the pit with me so I see her every day – sadly."

"You think you have it bad?" Grace retorted. "I have to look at your sorry face every day. _That_ is a punishment in itself."

"That hurt Grace," Edward replied, sticking out his bottom lip in a childish pout. Grace laughed and patted his arm with a grin on her face.

"That's why I'm here," she giggled.

"Bella! Hi!" Josie exclaimed, grinning at me. "'Ello, Theresa, Emily… and Edward." I could tell she had a bit of difficulty saying that last name since she wasn't used to saying it in a friendly term often. But I smiled. She was making an effort, and that was good. I wasn't sure why I cared about him fitting in so much, but for some reason I did.

"Well I'll see you guys later," Emily told us. "I'm going to make sure my ankle is okay before I do anything to break it like I did last year." She laughed and left us.

"Oh! Bella, _I_ would like you to meet my brother Willy. He's my adopted twin brother – quite literally," Josie offered with a grin. She gestured towards the short-haired blond boy and smiled at me. "Willy and his family are my adopted family. We're both clarinets." The two gave high-fives to one another.

I recognized him from the night before – he had been sitting next to Josie.

He smiled at me. "Hi, Bella," he greeted me. "Are you liking camp so far?"

"Loving it," I told him.

"Good, because band camp is awesome," he said as if this were the only reasonable answer that could be given. Everyone smiled at him before Theresa sat down with them.

"I'm just going to sit with these guys for a while. See you later," she told us, before winking mischievously at me. I pretended to ignore it and turned to go into the staircase.

"Where are you going?" Edward asked me curiously.

"To my room," I informed him. "I'm pretty sure there's stuff up there for me to do. I want to check my e-mail before dinner anyway." I turned away and he gently took hold of my arm. I glared up at him, but something in his beautiful smoldering green eyes stopped me from making the smart remark I wanted to. I couldn't even remember my own name, which was pathetic really.

Before I could even comprehend what had just happened, his lips were on mine.

I felt my body melt to his as our lips moved in surrendered synchronization. One of his hands gently went to the small of my back, where he secured me to him with a gentle grip. His lips moved so perfectly, and his _taste_…

"Oh. My. God," I heard behind us.

Edward whipped around, breaking away from me. I looked around him in horror to find Theresa, Josie, Willy, and Grace all staring at us dumbly, shock clearly written across their faces. It took us all a moment to recover before Theresa finally said,

"Okay… this is a little awkward. I'm heading to my room… anybody want to come?"

"Nah… I was just about to head up to my room anyways…" Josie murmured as she scurried past us and up the stairs at almost a dead run. Grace mumbled something about going with her and scrambled after her. Willy was the last one to leave, and he muttered something about going to the bathroom before he raced off. At least we could clear a room.

I looked up at him, and he looked back at me with a smile on his face.

"I'll see you at dinner, Bella," he offered, and left me standing there.

What had just happened?

EOC: OH MY GOD. I finally finished, and just in time for the end of the school year! Aren't you all so proud of me? This took me forever to write, and I thought I was done… but then I just opened this up again and started laughing while I read and couldn't stand what I had so I kept writing and this came out. Pretty beautiful, huh? =] Y'all had better be proud of me! Love you all… - Dark and Wild/Josie


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